News: Off-the-leash: Military dogs search for certification

A German Shepherd searches for a placebo drug during a canine certification, Jan. 13, on Fort Bragg, N.C. Canine teams have to certify annually with their dog and came from Fort Stuart, Ga., Fort Riley, Kansas, and Fort Hood, Texas.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- Detecting bombs, locating narcotics, chasing bad guys and saving lives; this is just another day of play for a Military working dog and his handler. With such a demanding job, they have to constantly train. The culmination of the training is an annual certification course taking place on Fort Bragg, N.C., Jan. 10-14.

Staff Sgt. William Taylor, a patrol narcotics detector dog handler with the Headquarters Headquarters Detachment, 385th, said that he understands the significance edge that a well trained canine can provide.

“A dog’s sense of smell is a lot better than a human’s sense,” Taylor, who is stationed Fort Stuart, Ga., said. “The most important part is that the dog maintains proficiency because they are a psychological deterrent. Someone would think twice about messing with the guy standing next to a big dog.”

All Military working dogs begin their training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas and must be recertified each year thereafter.

“A new dog is like a private right off the street,” Bockelmann, a West Mister, Md., native said. “We usually get the dogs at the age of two. All dogs and handlers go to a course at Lackland, and it’s like their basic training and AIT [advance individual course]. Once they come to the unit their training is extended.”

The first part of the certification process dealt with obedience training and apprehending a suspect at the K-9 Unit’s main office. Afterward the teams transitioned to the Fort Bragg Skate Rink, where the dogs had to find either an explosive training aid upstairs or narcotics aid downstairs.

“They are able to get narcotics off of the street by using the dog’s natural ability to smell,” Sgt. Jeffery Smith, a patrol explosive detector dog handler with the 42nd MP Det., 16th MP Bde. said.
The dog’s ability to smell is tested again as the teams work on finding narcotics inside of a terminal on Pope Air Force Base, and explosive training aids in the woods next to McKeller’s Lodge.

“As a handler, you don’t want to go where your dog hasn’t been,” Smith, a Hanover, Pa., native said. “On a search the handler stands in the middle of the road and lets the dog search six vehicles ahead of him. It’s like a bound and over watch, where the dog searches 20 to 50 meters ahead of the handler and then they are given more leash as they move up.”

The training will translate into real-world situations. Since most of the teams being certified will deploy to Afghanistan soon. Whether it is for their first or third time together, all of the teams will arrive trained and ready to search, find and seize the contraband that endanger the lives of women, children, soldiers and canine counterparts.